(Newswire.net— May 19, 2018) — The report issued by the Human Rights Watch (HRW) paints the World’s most important soccer tournament in a bad light and points to worsening human rights environment in the background, the Guardian reports.
According to the report published May 15, a FIFA World Cup will be held in the midst of “the worst human rights crisis in Russia since the Soviet era.”
Under the title “Russia: FIFA World Championship 2018 Human Rights Guide for Journalists”, HRW states that FIFA needs to use its influence to raise concerns with the Russian authorities about the abuse of labor rights, the restriction of basic freedoms and current conflicts with human rights activists.
The report on human rights violations in Russia lists the routine use of restrictive legislation in order to reduce the freedom of assembly, association and expression, and refers to severe punishment through the application of repressive legislation and the strengthening of censorship on the Internet, as well as the new human rights rules adopted by FIFA.
“Global sports events like the World Cup cause mass media attention. We hope that this guide will help reporters out of the field of football looking at wider problems in Russia,” said Hugh Williamson, HRW Director for Europe and Central Asia.
The report also criticizes Russia for open support to Syria, despite the evidence that its forces committed crimes against humanity and war crimes, which shed a different light on real intentions behind the report funneled by Western media.
The report particularly emphasize the fact that ARD’s journalist Hajo Seppeld, a veteran of German sports journalism, was banned from attending this year’s FIFA World Cup. The journalist is known for breaking the scandal surrounding doping in sport in Russia.
“The ARD broadcaster considers this an unprecedented event in the history of ARD sport journalism and an unprecedented interference in press freedom in terms of coverage of major events, such as the World Cup,” the broadcaster said.
According to the report, most workers engaged in building the infrastructure for FIFA World Cup are illegals from North Korea that work without any insurance or labor laws. 21 of the workers died during the construction and renovation of the stadium, the report claims.
According to the report, those who rebelled against the horrible working conditions were either arrested or deported. In addition, no earnings have been paid to individuals.
While HRW recommends that FIFA take firm steps to address and mitigate the concerns identified in the report, FIFA stated that the organization is monitoring closely every aspect of World Cup preparations in Russia.
“To date, a total of 58 inspections have been carried out. On average, the inspections covered 75 percent of the workforce employed on the construction sites at the time of the visits. During each stadium inspection, the monitoring team reviews all relevant documentation (such as time sheets, health and safety regulations, employment contracts and pay slips), follows up on critical issues, inspects the construction sites, interviews an average of 24 employees at random, and provides training to construction supervisors on different aspects of decent working conditions. After each visit, the general contractor and construction companies receive a complete report with an overview of the observations, the outcomes and a list of recommendations for critical issues that need to be addressed and resolved,” FIFA official report reads.
According to the letter that the Guardian allegedly has, the FIFA president, Gianni Infantino, admits there have been human rights abuses of workers involved in the construction of the arena in St Petersburg due to host matches in next year’s World Cup. However, the official FIFA report says nothing about the alleged misuse.